Operation Champion

Operation Champion was a US Army operation launched in Pleiku, South Vietnam in 1969 during the Vietnam War.

After successfully holding Quang Ngai Province against a North Vietnamese offensive, the United States decided to attack the nearby Viet Cong-held region of Pleiku to deprive the enemy of a major regional stronghold. The US Army launched "Operation Champion" to advance from two fields in the south and into the jungle to capture a PAVN base used as the Viet Cong headquarters in the region. Early in the battle, US forces suffered heavy losses while advancing across the rice paddies towards the jungle, with Viet Cong sharpshooters targeting them as they lunged towards their positions. The Americans took cover behind the wrecks of destroyed tanks, APCs, and planes and gradually pushed the enemy back under the cover of smoke grenades. They secured a Kham village at the clearing of the jungle before making a hazardous advance into the jungles, facing multiple rows of enemy defenses. The Americans flanked the Viet Cong bunkers by securing the eastern forest and then securing the bunkers. The Americans then advanced to secure the Viet Cong trenches, and the Viet Cong were gradually pushed back to the PAVN base after heavy jungle combat. The Americans bombarded the PAVN base with artillery strikes, grenades, and withering machine-gun fire, and it was not long before all 520 Viet Cong fighters engaged in the fighting were dead. The Americans then easily secured the PAVN base, wiping out the Viet Cong presence in Pleiku. The Americans were now in control of 5 of South Vietnam's 12 principal regions, and they decided to press their advantage by attacking Quang Nam Province in the Battle of Da Nang Airbase.